Harry Greener
History Father or brother (dependant on performer) of Faye and actor turned traveling salesman who is looking for work. Has a drinking problem. Harry is a huckster who tries to earn money by selling a ‘miracle salve’ to his neighbours. He used to be a performer and uses some of his old routines to charm his customers. He plays the ukulele and is friends with The Gatekeeper. Appearance Older man, appears in a suit and hat like a salesman, seen sometimes carrying a suitcase. Occasionally in a white suit. Loop - Basic - Sings to Faye (Harry's Motel Room) - Hears Romola death announcement (Harry's Motel Room) - Learns of Faye's upcoming audition (Harry's Motel Room) - Sings in saloon and meets Conrad in drag (Saloon bar) - Tries to sell Lila polish (W&M's House) - 1:1 (Harry's motel room) - Calls Temple Studios about work, gets rejected (Harry's Motel Room) - Sells polish to Drugstore Girl and sings to her (Drugstore) - Spends money in bar and steals tequila (Saloon bar) - Drunk in town (Fountain) - Stumbles around with sign (Town) - Collapses in front of graffitied wall (Outside Motel) - Found by Gatekeeper (Outside Motel) - Changes into white suit (Gatekeeper's Office) - Performs in bar (Studio 3) - 1:1 (Harry's Motel Room) - Comforts Faye on stage (Saloon) - Puts Faye to sleep (Harry's Motel Room) Loop - Extended He starts the day with his daughter, Faye, in their motel room. They hear the announcement of Romola’s death on the radio, and Harry wishes Faye good luck for her upcoming audition. Faye skips off and Harry gets dressed and walks to the Tavern. He watches Conrad performing in drag on stage, singing ‘I Can Never Go Home Anymore’. Afterwards, Harry sings a number, before heading off in search of customers. He marches through the door at William and Mary’s house and meets Lila inside. He does a merry song and dance and tries to sell her a tin of his ‘miracle salve’. Lila giggles, but then Harry collapses in a chair, exhausted. He holds out his hat hoping that Lila will take pity and buy a tin. She does and he leaves happy. He calls the studio from his motel room, hoping to get some work, but fails to get a job. He walks over to the Drugstore, where he posts fliers in the phone booths. He sells some ‘miracle salve’ to Drugstore Girl, while singing ‘Sincerely’ by The Moonglows. She gives him some of her vodka. As he’s leaving the diner, Badlands Jack approaches and asks him for his rent money. Harry explains that he’s broke, but he’ll pay up as soon as he can. He apologises over and over, nervously wringing his hat in his hands. Jack shows his teeth in a savage grin. He grabs Harry’s hat and punches it inside out, before pulling it over Harry’s head. Having been full of cheer a moment ago, Harry now looks dopey and humiliated. He heads back to the Tavern, passing Mr Tuttle's shop on the way. Mr Tuttle stops him for a congenial, neighbourly chat and tells him that he’s got a new doll for Faye. Harry tells him to get it, but as soon as Mr Tuttle's back is turned, he runs away. As the day wears on, Harry’s bonhomie begins to fade and he knows that his position is hopeless. He goes to the Tavern to get drunk and tries to pay for his drinks by entertaining The Barman. He performs a three-card trick and then tries again with a deck of Tarot cards. The Barman pours him a couple of free shots, but after this Harry goes behind his back and sneaks a few swigs from the bottles. The Barman chases him around the bar and throws him out. Harry stumbles out of the Tavern shouting a defiant, ‘Fuck You’. Later he’s on his knees and crying. He pulls up a placard saying, ‘I Want and Need Work’, and drags it through the streets. He stops at a photography stand and sits cross-legged on the floor. He starts talking into the camera and a look of recognition dawns on his face, ‘George! How are you doing?’ He starts doing impressions. ‘There's no place like home George’, he says clicking his heels together. ‘It's alive, George, it's alive.’ He gets up and stumbles away. He stops again, outside the cinema, and launches into a stream of prophetic rambling, ‘Eternity is eternity is eternity is only a single moment.’ He looks at an audience member, ‘Funny how the world turns round and round.’ He says that he used to be a star and he was in thirty-seven movies. Harry staggers on and finally collapses outside the motel, against a wall covered in graffiti. The Gatekeeper is doing his rounds and finds him out cold. ‘Well, if it isn’t Harry Greener!’ he exclaims. He helps him up and takes him back to his office for a surprise. Hanging up against the wall is a white tuxedo, Harry’s old show costume. ‘It’s in all your pictures’, says The Gatekeeper. Overjoyed, Harry puts on the tuxedo and a bow tie. ‘They want you back,’ says The Gatekeeper. ‘In the spotlight’, he adds as he shines a lamp at Harry. The Gatekeeper points to the door and says, ‘They’re waiting for you in Studio 3.’ Harry makes his way to the studio, walking through the woods in Studio 2. He’s happy to be back in show business and dances a merry jig. He stops whenever he sees his reflection or passes a spotlight, and soaks up the imaginary applause. He meets Conrad in the corridor. ‘They want you back, huh?’ asks Conrad and Harry replies, ‘Apparently so’. Harry looks at Conrad quizzically, ‘Hey, didn’t I see you in the Horse & Stars?’ Conrad replies, ‘No Harry, you didn’t’. Harry goes to the Audience Bar in Studio 3 and sings ‘Sweet Sue, Just You’. The audience lap it up and he leaves on a high. He passes a sign for Temple Studios on the wall and kisses it tenderly. He takes an audience member back to his motel room, locks the door and draws the curtains. 1:1 He performs a series of impressions of famous movie characters, including Clark Gable’s ‘Rhett Butler’, Bela Lugosi’s ‘Dracula’, and Marlon Brando’s ‘Terry Malloy’ from ‘On the Waterfront’ - ‘I could’ve been a contender’. He says that Hollywood is his home and he won’t ever leave again. He walks over to the Tavern and his good mood sours when he sees Faye sobbing into a microphone and singing ‘Remember (Walking in the Sand)’. He approaches the stage and tries to comfort her. He takes her home and puts her to bed. He’s sweet and tender, but he’s impotent. He wants desperately to be a good father to his daughter, but can only mirror her sadness. Final Show Trivia In ‘The Day of the Locust’, Harry Greener is a failed entertainer and silver polish salesman. In the Secretary’s Office there are letters from both Faye and Harry begging for auditions. Faye is a budding starlet desperate for her big break. Harry is the forgotten man, over the hill and left to rot by the studio. Their combined plight is heartbreaking and their lives play out like the opening and closing shots of the Hollywood story. Behind him at the cinema is a large movie poster advertising ‘DEVIL IN HER EYES’ starring Richard Young, with the tagline ‘MAN DRIVEN MAD BY INFIDELITY’. The film title refers to a line from ‘Woyzeck’, delivered by the Drum Major to Marie - ‘Devil in you, isn’t there? I can see it in your eyes’. In one of Harry’s drawers is a stack of flyers advertising his services – ‘Actor for hire, for all your acting needs. Skills include juggling / mime / rope walking / puppetry / ventriloquism / tap dancing / balloon manipulation / improvisation. Also available for background and filler roles. Contact Harry at the San Bernardino Arms, Room 1. Tel: 248 7902.’ On the wall of his motel room is a picture called ‘The Bedraggled Harlequin’. This is a reference to ‘The Day of the Locust’ and is the heading of a magazine review for one of Harry’s shows. Harry is the bedraggled harlequin in question, but the review is a positive one and Harry keeps it as a reminder that he was once part of a successful vaudeville troupe called ‘The Flying Lings’. lines written by Jim Kitson, who played the original Harry Greener "Come along and you will see, The polish right for you and me. The stars and the celebrities looooovvvve... Miracle Salve! Without peer or parallel, Used in all the best hotels, The White House too, I do hear tell, looovvvve.... Miracle Salve! Are you tired of mediocrity? It's yours for just...two-fifty! Buy one can and get one free! That's.....Miracle Salve!" "“Jeepers Creepers! Where’d ya get those peepers? . . . ” References Category:Characters